THE LEGO® FLYWHEEL PROJECT
Jack Bitterly knows, we all share the same planet, but still. . . "I would rather see flywheels first," he says, "in an American car."
Okay, I admit it....this time I got something rolling. Being a big "constructivist" guy, I take seriously my job of mentoring and guiding students int interesting project areas...so when I saw the article by Will Hively ( "Reinventing the Wheel" ) in DISCOVER on building a flywheel car, I said to myself "hey we got Lego® weights, we got Lego® motors...we can do this here!"
For those of you who missed the article, it is all about the potential of building flywheel cars...this one fellow has come up with a way of running a series of flywheels packed in a vacuum floating on magnetic bearings run off a 12 volt motor.
I will admit to not being the first to experiment with spinning Lego® things...I think Matt among others have that distinction. ( You might want to take a look at the Weird Richard Pages on rotational Inertia ). This is one of Matt's models:
I read the article, and talked it over with several students...who became very excited. We, in our own small way, are replicating and exploring a subject the big boys in science are playing with. Using the tools we have at hand, we are building our own flywheels! The challenge is to build a device...entirely out of Lego® elements ( mostly weights and tech pieces ) that will enable a 9v motor to turn a car rim.
This project is not finished yet. It has been an interesting experiment in idea bouncing. One of us will came up with something that the others will immediately jump on!
The following are a few pictures of what has been accomplished to date:
LOOK. IT'S A FLYWHEEL CAR!
ANOTHER SHOT
ANOTHER VIEWPOINT
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
A STUDENT MODEL
Another Picture
Very Nice!
Look at this one!
Oh boy!
MY MODEL!!! LOOK AT THIS ONE!
Okay weblanders, LET'S SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!
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Copyright© 1996 by Richard Wright for PCS Education Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved